Fabrics For Sale

Part of building up a fabric stash is parting with fabric you know you'll never use (to make room for more fabrics you will use). I have two fabrics that I know I will not use, so I'd like to offer them to my blogosphere friends before I post them on The Hive.

Both fabrics are lightweight twill weave worsted wools from Burnley and Trowbridge. One is gown length (4.5 yards) of a light blue-gray that is sort of slate like in color; it's an odd color so I will give its new owner the matching prewaxed silk thread. The other is 2.5 yards (petticoat length) of the cinnamon, a photo of it from B&T is below.

The cinnamon lightweight wool from Burnley and Trowbridge.

I would strongly recommend that experienced seamstresses or tailors get these; the twill weave makes these two wools really bouncy, and the blue-gray in particular is a pin vomitter! Last July, when I took my first gown workshop, another participant had the same wool and it dropped pins like crazy. But if you're a beginner and up for a challenge--go for it. You're braver than I!

Both of these fabrics cost $12/yd and I'll break even on them, $54 for the blue-gray and $30 for the cinnamon. I'd ask that buyer pays shipping. And, I will get a photo of the blue-gray tomorrow morning in good light!

Fabric swatches from Renaissance.

So, a while back I received the swatches I asked for from Renaissance Fabrics: spring green, peacock blue, copper, and gold-purple.

Life and fabric samples and broadcloth.

I'm on Day 2 of my New and Awesome Job (please don't let the honeymoon end!), so reality has unfortunately taken its toll on my frequent blogging and research.  That being said, I'm currently juggling a few things at once in my 18thc. life, most of it revolving around textiles and free fabric swatches and deciding what to tackle next.

Currently, I have 5 swatches of linen from Fabrics-store.com laying on the table next to me. They are in 5 different weights: 3.5 oz, 5.3 oz, 6 oz, 7.1 oz, and 8 oz. All are bleached white. I am looking into linen lining for my yellow silk gown that needs to be made, and instead of going, "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo!" and picking a weight without feeling it or knowing what I'm doing, I decided to order the free samples from this online store and feel them alongside the lining currently in my printed cotton gown. I think with the silk I can go a bit lighter in terms of weight, and probably needed something a bit more substantial in the cotton--for the next cotton gown (chintz, please!), I'll do that. The 3.8 is definitely too light; it has a looser weave with thin threads, probably not the best linen. However, it is soft and feels nice between my fingers. I could see using this for a shift if I couldn't/didn't want to shell out the money for really good linen. Right now, I'm leaning towards the 5.3 or 6 oz, though the 6 is rather slubby, and not as soft. The 7.1 and 8 oz are not even on my radar, they're really heavy and almost canvas-like.

With the help of my more experienced friends, I'm getting closer to making a choice about wool broadcloth for a short cloak. I don't want to do a light or scarlet red; I'm looking toward other colors that aren't as frequently seen on reenactors, though I do have my eye on a claret! The colors I'm looking at are black, light purple, 2 dark greens, and the claret. The black is an 80/20 wool/cashmere, so I'm asking around about that mixture. I need something more on the heavy side as it gets cold up here and I'm planning on doing 2 events during the beginning of winter!

One of the ordered samples, gold-purple.

Third, I have silk samples on the way from Renaissance Fabrics. You can get 4 free samples from them, and I'd like to make a decision on silk sooner rather than later for my dress gown for the ball in January. The taffetas are both shot and not shot, so I'm looking forward to seeing those soon. Renaissance has very affordable prices (taffeta is $17/yard), and some of the colors look really pretty. Including the gold-purple, I ordered samples of copper, peacock blue, and ice blue.

Online window shopping.

Money is tight for many of us, and I am no exception. One of my favorite pastimes is to browse online fabric stores for items within my budget for future reference as well as for textiles which I would never be able to buy unless I a.) hit the lottery, b.) married very well, or c.) suddenly came into a high-paying position or inheritance. I've struck out on all three so far, so I'm stuck to window shopping.

Have you heard of Design Diva Fabrics? My source for all things textile knowledge told me about this whacky site. It's whacky in that they are ALWAYS running sales, and those sales change by the minute. Yes, you can go look at a fabric, refresh the page, and the price has changed. It's totally bizarre, but so much fun to browse! The prices range from what we consider normal for such things as taffeta all the way up to the most outrageous lampas--we're talking close to $1000 for a yard. Pick your jaw up off the floor now!

Currently, Design Diva is having a sale--80-90% off sale. Supposedly, there are new taffetas and dupionis (please reenactors, don't ever use that stuff) from such names as Scalamandre, Pierre Frey and Vervain for as low as $10/yd. You got my attention, I will certainly browse around your crazy website for fabrics that I cannot buy just yet. In addition, there is a "site-wide sale up to 65% off." So ... yeah. I'm tellin' ya, you can't make this stuff up! Totally bizarre.

So I went looking for stuff that's $10/yd. I haven't found much yet, but what I did find was a lovely medium-weight silk taffeta by Scalamandre for $15/yd (retail is $242.60/yd, they sell it for $99.99/yd):

I think that would make a lovely sacque for a ball. I'm still not 100% on weights, though, so it may be too heavy as a medium. But, it would be lovely as something!

My favorite color combination is purple and yellow. Any shade of purple and any shade of yellow is all right with me. My dressage saddle bag is purple with yellow trim, I have purple polo wraps and yellow polo wraps for my horses (somewhere ...), I wear purple constantly ... I'm a fan. So, I love this Vervain shot taffeta in purple and gold, on sale for $22.50/yd (retail is $332.60/yd, DDF sells it for $149.99/yd):

Another sacque for another ball. Or just a sacque in undress. Hell, I just want to make a gown from it!

This looks very, very familiar to me ... completely out of my reach at $90/yd but I feel like I've worn it before ...

Yep, I have worn it before!

What's your "if money was no object" fabric that you would love to get your hands on?

The makings of a stash.

Miss Hallie has been clearing out some of her fabric stash, and I couldn't help but jump headfirst into it. What better way to get some great fabrics that have already been vetted for accuracy and authenticity? I love looking at the fabrics when she posts them, even if I don't buy any of it, because it gives me an image to compare when I'm browsing around fabric sites (especially printed/painted and embroidered/brocade/damask textiles). I've not yet made the leap into purchasing something exquisitely expensive (like a $35/yd damask), and I would sure as anything have Hallie look at it first, but it's nice to have something from her to start my stash.

What did I end up with? A beautiful, golden yellow silk taffeta. It's not shot, but it almost seems to change from a yellow to a deeper, golden yellow. It's absolutely lovely. There was only 5.5 yards, so it will be a practice silk gown that I will use for a runaway impression. It will also double as a simple silk undress/informal/day dress. I plan on quilting a petticoat for it, as well as using other colors of silk for plain petticoats. Every time I walk by it, I have to reach out and touch it (I also do this when I'm shopping for modern clothes). Good thing I'm getting into fabrics, eh?

And since we're talking about silk, I came across an interesting article courtesy of the Tufts Museum Studies blog: conservation scientists at the Smithsonian Institution have developed a technique to date silk items! It's a very interesting article, and the technique only uses one millimeter of silk to give a range of 50-100 years. If the textile has been stored in museum-quality environments, it is even more accurate. Well-dated and documented textiles and garments were used in the study, including a 1740s man's coat from the Museum of the City of New York. Yay science!